Activists protest poll result

Democracy supporters are calling for â€śone person, one voteâ€ť to choose their chief executive via different methods after the SAR's next leader was elected yesterday.

Leung Chun-ying, 57, beat two other candidates to become the next chief executive of the territory after securing 689 votes from a 1,200-member committee of business leaders and politicians, who are mostly Beijing loyalists.

However, many democracy supporters doubt Leungâ€™s legitimacy. In one poll, 54.6 percent of 222,990 participants rejected all three candidates in a mock election organized by Hong Kong University on March 23-24.

Outside the waterfront convention center where the election was held, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered, waving banners and chanting slogans calling for â€śone person, one vote.â€ť

They also protested against Beijing intervening in Hong Kongâ€™s autonomy by lobbying election committee members behind the scenes to cast their votes for Leung. He will succeed Donald Tsang, who was ineligible to stand again after two terms as chief executive.

The Basic Law, Hong Kongâ€™s mini-constitution, has promised universal suffrage for 2017, when Leungâ€™s five-year term ends, but no plan has yet been laid out.